Black smoke billowed from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday evening, signaling that the 133 Catholic cardinals gathered in a secret conclave have not yet chosen a successor to the late Pope Francis, who died on April 21, 2025.
The dark plume, visible to thousands of faithful and onlookers in St. Peter’s Square, marked an inconclusive first ballot in the highly anticipated papal election.
The conclave, the largest in modern history, began earlier in the day with a solemn Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, led by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who urged the cardinals to select “the Pope our time needs.” The 133 cardinal electors, all under 80 and hailing from 70 countries, then processed into the Sistine Chapel, where they took oaths of secrecy and began voting under Michelangelo’s frescoed masterpiece, The Last Judgment. The moment the chapel doors closed, marked by the Latin command “Extra omnes!” (Everyone out!), the cardinals were cut off from the outside world, their only communication being the smoke from burned ballots.
The black smoke, produced by mixing ballots with chemicals like potassium perchlorate and sulfur, indicates that no candidate secured the required two-thirds majority—89 votes—to become the next leader of the 1.4 billion-member Catholic Church. While an election on the first day is rare in modern conclaves, the delay in the smoke’s appearance, taking over three hours, sparked speculation about the complexity of the discussions among the diverse group of electors, 108 of whom were appointed by Pope Francis.
Crowds in St. Peter’s Square, numbering over 30,000, dispersed after the black smoke appeared around 9 p.m.
The cardinals, now sequestered in Vatican guesthouses, will resume voting on Thursday with up to four ballots two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The process will continue daily until a pope is elected, signaled by white smoke and the ringing of St. Peter’s bells.
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